Possible Utopias and the need for a Social Knowledge Economy

Here’s an interview with P2P Foundation founder Michel Bauwens, recorded in Quito, Ecuador. You can find the original, published at Radios Libres’ site, right here.

It was originally conducted in Spanish, with consecutive translation by our friend Andrés Delgado. For our blog, We’ve translated the questions in text and kept Michel’s audio answers in English. The original article also features audio contributions by Jenny Torres and Andrés Delgado.

Question 1: When talking about P2P, it’s often thought to be related to well-known file-sharing sites, so, what can you tell us about “the peer to peer economy” and the “social knowledge economy”?

Question 2: Many people think that this change in the productive matrix, going from extractivism to knowledge, is somewhat utopian. Do you agree? Or, is it viable, and are countries like Ecuador (and the rest of Latin America) ready to shift from cognitive capitalism to a social knowledge economy?

Question 3: What are the main issues a country must work on in order to become an open, commons-based society?

Question 4: Ecuador, like most Latin American countries, is very influenced by the ancestral knowledge of the first native cultures. How can we combine this wisdom with modern knowledge, and current information and communication technologies, to create this commons-based society?

Question 5: What role does communication play within the social knowledge economy, and what can community radio do to support this process?

Question 6: Although this particular process is taking place in Ecuador, it’s also extremely important for the whole region. Do you agree, Michel?